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Any sign of a Mac Pro update?
- Thread starter mrsir2009
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I doubt that will happen... or at least this year. If Apple would discontinue the Mac Pro line they would lose all their professional market... not to say all their testing platforms which software and app developers use to test operating systems and other stuff. Dropping the Mac Pro line would be the STUPIDEST thing Apple has ever done. Until they do such a thing, I have confidence and respect in them.
i agree if
does such thing it would be the STUPIDEST thing ever. most of their apps made that they brag so much about is made from mac pros. or mbp...but really thats such a bold statement. i just hope this year models are amazing. steve jobs did say 2010 macs where gona be awesome i have faith in him.
I keep hearing this, but no one can say how dropping the pro market would benefit
It seems like no benefit from doing so and too much of a possibility for disaster if they did.
I don't expect it to happen in 2010, but in 2014 (2013 model being the last lineup).I keep hearing this, but no one can say how dropping the pro market would benefit
It seems like no benefit from doing so and too much of a possibility for disaster if they did.
It has to do with what processors will be available. Now at that time, they continue on by using enthusiast desktop parts (SP CPU's only), but it will mean the end of the Xeon based MP (especially the DP versions). But when you combine the increases in pricing and small sales, it does look like that's when the MP will disappear (skip switching to SP only, and drop it based on financial aspects).
All workstations will be affected BTW, and have to go with SP parts. But as the core counts will have 8x on one die, it won't be an issue for most (those that truly need ECC RAM may be in a pickle if they don't have the 2x arms and 2x legs for the DP CPU based systems
).
I keep hearing this, but no one can say how dropping the pro market would benefit
It seems like no benefit from doing so and too much of a possibility for disaster if they did.
The thing is, they probably just don't see a long term need for these kinds of machines. Actually in 5 years I can see all desktops not being necessary outside of very very specific needs. Imagine if you had an OLED iMac, with USB3 (or lightpeak or whatever high speed port), with SATA3 solid state drives, fast cpus and gpus etc, in an even thinner and cooler all-in-one. I'm not sure that's where I want it to go personally (unless it works fantastic, then why not) but I probably wouldn't be able to say I couldn't do my video editing, dev work, web work, graphics etc etc...
I'm a pretty heavy duty user. I can see it going in this direction...
Developers are either already, or becoming interested in Cloud computing. If they get their way (and Intel is obliging them with more cores per die which will help make it happen), what we'll have at home isn't going to be much more than a terminal.
The real limitation will be ISP bandwidth, but that will eventually be addressed.
Other uses that would require heavier duty systems, such as gaming systems and workstations, can be done on the same CPU's. And that seems to be the direction Intel's taking, going by their roadmap. We're already seeing that transition occur. Take the current SP Xeon (35xxx) for example. It's the same chip as the 45nm i7-9xx with ECC enabled. Core counts per die are also continuing to increase. We're about to get hex core parts, and octo core parts won't be too far behind. So workstations will be able to stick with SP CPU's and boards.
I certainly can see the MP line ending at some point and maybe not far off, that's a lot different than getting out of the pro market. A mini pro is just what many people have been wanting for a long time and would probably make the base MP almost obsolete. So I totally agree with what you say about comps. I take dropping the pro market as = dropping pro users, since a lot of people also include pro software/support in this issue.
Yeah, they shipped my new machine, so it's too late to cancel if they update 'em
No, the update is always scheduled to occur exactly 15 days after you get one, to account for the 14 day grace period
Which tea do you brew to read the leaves?
I read my Assam, and it says: "Sorry. I can't see a shadow. Six more weeks of Mac Pro winter"
No, the update is always scheduled to occur exactly 15 days after you get one, to account for the 14 day grace period
Doesn't apply to BTO
i'm not looking to buy one, but looking at the upgrade. we're looking to buy a few HP servers at work and waiting for the latest CPU's to come out. and i'm always checking Apple's website since they announced the Nehalem first last year
Interesting tidbit is IBM just announced new x86 servers last week and they will ship later this month. lots of marketing BS on the website but no word on which CPU's are in there. There is still an NDA on the Nehalem-EX which will be lifted any day now. i bet Apple has the new Mac Pro's in their warehouses, but can't ship them yet.
Interesting tidbit is IBM just announced new x86 servers last week and they will ship later this month. lots of marketing BS on the website but no word on which CPU's are in there. There is still an NDA on the Nehalem-EX which will be lifted any day now. i bet Apple has the new Mac Pro's in their warehouses, but can't ship them yet.
sorry, the question was for all the people saying that they're going to be killed off.
I wouldn't be surprised if Xeon workstations were ultimately killed off, or at least relegated to special-order only. I would hope that Apple would stay in the tower-based desktop business, however, maybe by introducing a smaller tower with a more modest CPU (i7, maybe?), fewer PCIe slots, fewer hard drive bays, etc etc. Something to compete in the space in between the consumer-ish iMac and the very professional (and very expensive) MP Mac Pros.
10 years ago Intel was talking about running things like modems in software via the CPU. i don't know what every new instruction does, but graphics cards are very similar to DSP's and new languages like OpenCL may let you run instructions in a generic "graphics" card instead of a specialized overpriced DSP card
Let me throw an idea out for discussion. Many people suggest that Mac Pros are low volume compared to most of Apple's other products, that it's a "nuisance" for Apple to keep making them. So what if, for 2010, Apple kept only the SP Mac Pro, and dropped the DP Mac Pro?
Let's assume that Apple sticks to Xeon type silicon, but SP only. Why not? It simplifies their R&D and manufacturing, and Intel gives them 6 cores "real soon now" which realistically should be enough for 90% of Mac Pro users.
Or would the Mac Pro people be devastated and inconsolable over such a development?
Actually - yes. These slots are critical in high-end MP video capture systems. They are necessary for video capture cards like BlackMagic and RED Rocket.
Additionally, Autodesk has just released a version of SMOKE which is a high end color/compositing/editing software which is taking advantage of the MP platform (and wont work on any other current Mac system). I know with some certainty that Autodesk would not put the effort into moving to Mac based systems for this software package if there wasn't at least a medium term outlook for the MP.
Apple probably won't take a step backwards. If anything they will drop single socket only models and go back to dual socket boards only.
A single socket system with the next generation CPUs would mean that the new generation Mac Pro would be slower than the current dual processor system. I don't think people would like to see that.
Both the upcoming Gulftown and the current Gainestown processors are based on the Nehalem architecture, which is why I don't expect a speed bump besides the two additional cores.
So 3GHz Gainestown should pretty much equal 3GHz Gulftown.
Maybe Sandy Bridge can deliver such a punch that a single processor is faster than two processors of the previous generation, but with Gulftown and Gainestown, not gonna happen.